Al Baraka Banking Group and Six of its units win Islamic Finance News Awards for 2017

12 March 2018

The Bahrain based leading Islamic banking group Al Baraka Banking Group B.S.C. (ABG) announced that the Group and six of its units won Islamic Finance News Awards 2017 through the annual comprehensive referendum conducted by the Islamic Finance News magazine.

Al Baraka Banking Group won Bahrain Deal of the Year Award and Regulatory Capital Deal of the year Award for its US$ 400 million Tier 1 Sukuk. Moreover, and for the fifth consecutive year, Al Baraka Bank Egypt won the award as the Best Islamic Bank in Egypt, Al Baraka Bank Lebanon won the award as the Best Islamic Bank in Lebanon, Al Baraka Islamic Bank won the award as the Best Islamic Bank in Bahrain, Al Baraka Bank Syria won the award as the Best Islamic Bank in Syria, Jordan Islamic Bank won the award as the Best Islamic Bank in Jordan and Al Baraka Bank South Africa won the award as the Best Islamic Bank in South Africa.

On this occasion, Mr. Adnan Ahmed Yousif, Board member and President & Chief Executive of Al Baraka Banking Group said: "We are pleased today to see the winning of ABG and six of its units of these awards for the fifth consecutive year, which reflects the leading status that ABG and its banking units enjoy after successful career filled with achievements over the last years from one side and the good reputation as well as the distinguished banking position that these units enjoy in the Islamic banking sector locally, regionally and globally from the other side.

He added "The subsidiary banking units of our Group have come to be amongst the leading financial institutions in servicing their communities and are most established in terms of their expertise and knowledge of the local markets, which reflect the success of Al Baraka Banking Group's vision and strategy which are based on enhancing the positions of subsidiary units, strengthening their capital resources and creating strong business relationships between the units". Mr. Yousif concluded his statement by expressing his thanks and appreciation to the executive managements and all employees of ABG units for their continuing efforts in raising the status of their units.

The voting in favor of the Group and the six units to win these awards was through the annual referendum organized by "Islamic Finance News", where it invited Islamic financial companies and investors and companies from outside the banking sector and government institutions from around the world to participate in this referendum. The Islamic Finance News magazine is based in Kuala Lumpur and it is an international institution specialized in providing news for the Islamic financial sector. The Islamic Finance News Awards are considered the most transparent and competitive international awards, and are subject to strict standards when voting, where companies and banks are not allowed to vote for themselves, but are subject to the judgment of others.

The CEOs & General Managers of the wining units received these awards in the annual ceremony, which was held in the city of Dubai on Sunday 11th March 2018.

Al Baraka Banking Group (B.S.C) is licensed as an Islamic wholesale bank by the Central Bank of Bahrain, listed on Bahrain Bourse and Nasdaq Dubai stock exchanges. It is a leading international Islamic banking group providing its unique services in countries with a population totaling around one billion. It is jointly rated BBB+ (long term) / A3 (short term) on the international scale and A+ (bh) (long term) / A2 (bh) (short term) on the national by Islamic International Rating Agency & Dagong Global Credit Rating Company Limited, and by Standard & Poor's at BB+ (long term) / B (short term).

Al Baraka offers retail, corporate, treasury and investment banking services, strictly in accordance with the principles of the Islamic Shari'a. The authorized capital of Al Baraka is US$ 1.5 billion, while total equity is at about US$ 2.1 billion.

The Group has a wide geographical presence in the form of subsidiary banking units and representative offices in 16 countries, which in turn provide their services through over 700 branches. Al Baraka currently has a strong presence in Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Bahrain, Pakistan, South Africa, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, including two representative offices in Indonesia and Libya.